Lectures And Letters
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: Ruby and Weiss have small mishap, but this time Blake and Yang are determined to mess with them as much as possible. (Happy RWBY Tuesday!)


**I don't remember where this idea came from. Just another excuse for fluff. OOC for the cuteness effect. Enjoy.**

**This one is dedicated to nonowaru (Hiro) on tumblr~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

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Lectures And Letters

Ruby skittered around the corner of the hallway, ducking behind the wall and pressing herself to the hard surface in an attempt to make herself invisible.

Weiss stalked down the hall, dressed in her white combat skirt rather than her uniform, her boots stomping loudly as she stormed toward her classroom.

Ruby slumped back as she let out a long sigh.

Yang crept up beside her and let out a low whistle. "You've really done it this time." She shook her head from side to side chidingly as she rested her elbow on her sister's shoulder.

"What am I gonna do?" Ruby moaned. "She's really angry this time. I didn't think it could turn into such a huge mess."

"And after all that yelling this morning... Sheesh, I just don't know what to tell ya, sis." Yang scratched her head with a shrug.

Weiss had been particularly prickly that morning, clamming up even more than she usually did, refusing breakfast, and giving clipped replies to every word directed at her.

It was obvious she was in a sour mood, and Ruby had attempted to cheer her up by offering her some of her favorite cereal. But when she had nudged the bowl closer to her partner, Ruby ended up accidentally knocking it off the table, effectively splattering the heiress in milk and grain.

It had been the last straw, and Weiss had shot up from her seat and proceeded to chew Ruby out, but rather than her usual annoyed lecture tone, it was full-on screaming. The others had been too terrified to even move until she had finished her exasperated discourse.

Weiss had then stomped into the bathroom to shower, leaving her teammates to wallow in stunned silence.

Since her uniform was presently being washed, Weiss wore her trademark dress to class, standing out like a snowflake in a pile of dead leaves.

As Ruby peeked around the corner to seek out her partner, she debated sitting farther away from her today.

"But jeez..." Yang was muttering. "She definitely overreacted. She said some pretty harsh things to you, you know." Her voice lowered a bit into a growl.

"Yeah..." Ruby sighed. "But I know she didn't really mean all that. She's just having a bad day and, of course, I had to make it worse. I just hope it blows over soon." Worry seeped into her tone as she began to fret about the problems that could arise in the future; how was Ruby supposed to lead a team when her partner was furious with her? "What if she quits the team?" She muttered, her voice hollow.

"Dummy!" Yang smacked her upside the head. "Of course she won't do that! … I think."

"Oh yeah, thanks for reassuring me." Ruby said dryly.

"Come on. She wouldn't do that." Yang patted Ruby's shoulder. "I'm sure she'll come around soon enough."

"But I've already apologized so many times and she wouldn't listen!" Ruby wailed. "What if she never forgives me?"

"_Now_ who's overreacting?" Yang sighed, offering a small smirk. "It'll be fine. Just act normal."

"I'll try..."

Sniffing a little, Ruby tentatively stepped into the classroom. She pushed Yang in front of her, making her enter first as Ruby hid behind her. Their seats were a row in front of their respective partners' seats, but Ruby persuaded Yang to switched sides with her so that she would not have to feel Weiss's glare piercing her skull during the lecture. Yang agreed and took Ruby's seat in front of the heiress, and she did believe she could feel a deadly aura wafting from behind her.

Then, Yang's ears naturally picked up on the sound of her partner's voice, and she heard Blake murmur something to Weiss. Ruby was too busy mumbling worst-case scenarios to herself to hear them, but Yang listened quietly as the two girls behind her spoke.

"Weiss?" Blake said hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm _perfectly_ fine." The heiress snapped.

"Come on." The other girl reasoned. "I know something's troubling you, and it's not just the accident anymore, is it?"

Blake knew there would be one of two outcomes to her prompting; either Weiss would open up to her about what was on her mind, or she would clam up again. Although the latter was entirely more possible, Blake was determined to take the slim chance of striving toward the former.

At first she thought her efforts had failed, as the heiress slammed her elbow onto the table, dug her chin into her palm and turned her face away. But Blake could see her eyebrows twitching and recognized the motion of lips being roughly bitten for a minute or so before Weiss caved and turned back to face her. Her mist-blue eyes flashed briefly forward and diagonally, locking onto the back of a slumped Ruby's head to make sure she was not listening.

Weiss then lowered her head a little as she turned toward Blake.

"I'm just..." She could not meet her teammate's eyes. "I'm just so... angry!"

"At Ruby?"

"At _myself_!" Weiss hissed. "I..." She let out a long, distressed sigh. "I didn't... _mean_ to say all of those things to her. I just... ugh!" She smacked her hands to her face, hard enough to send her ponytail jerking forward.

"Weiss," Blake placed a hand on her shoulder as she spoke in a gentle voice. "It's okay. Just tell me whatever you want to say."

Weiss remained silent for another minute before she sighed heavily yet again, letting her hands fall into her lap.

"I didn't mean to say all those things..." She repeated wretchedly. "I just... I didn't get much sleep last night, and when I did sleep, I was having nightmares. Every little thing was going wrong this morning, and when Ruby spilled the cereal I just..."

She trailed off again, looking horribly ashamed at herself. "I know it was just an accident, and I know she apologized over and over again, and I know I was way too harsh on her but... everything just came spilling out all at once. I used her as a scapegoat for my anger and ended up hurting her because I was being careless and didn't think about what I was doing, and now..."

She flicked her eyes back down to Ruby again, but could hardly look at her leader anymore. "I said such horrible things to her... What kind of a partner am I?" Weiss hunched forward and fell silent.

Blake watched her for a moment, intent on hearing the heiress out on the problems that were eating away at her.

But above all, Blake had to battle in order to keep the amused smile from slipping onto her lips. She knew for a fact that Ruby did not care for a second about the things Weiss had shouted at her that morning, but rather was solely concerned about the heiress herself.

Blake debated informing Weiss of this fact, but just then, she caught Yang's eye. It was clear her partner had been listening in on their conversation and also realized exactly what was happening between Weiss and Ruby, but she sent Blake a look that begged her to tease their teammates a bit.

Blake rolled her eyes at Yang, but nodded in the end, because quite frankly, she was up for a little fun.

"Weiss." Blake leaned forward as she spoke seriously. "If Ruby's upset enough about all of this, she might just rescind her position as leader and drop out of Beacon."

She heard Yang choke on air as she proposed the absolutely preposterous situation, but it was apparent that Weiss believed every word.

The heiress let slip a small gasp as her eyes shot back to Ruby, who _did_ look rather depressed right now... "No!" She yelped before lowering her voice. "I mean, I couldn't let that happen because of something so trivial! Ruby wouldn't do that, would she?"

Normally, Blake knew the heiress would have puffed out her chest and put on an uncaring countenance. However, now that the scenario was so dire, despite how fake it was, Weiss could not even afford the act and was instead demonstrating her true concern for her leader's wellbeing.

Blake bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to stop her smile from forming.

"Ruby's very delicate." Blake said. "You may not have noticed since you're always so close to her, but to the rest of us, it's obvious to see."

"Wh...What should I do?" Weiss's eyes flashed with panic.

Blake knew there was a limit to how far she should take this, and decided that now was an appropriate time to get to the real solution of the little issue that she had so effectively blown out of proportions.

"It's simple." Blake shrugged. "All you have to do is apologize."

"Is... Is that really all?" Weiss whispered.

"Of course. If Ruby knows you're sorry, and she hears it from you, there's no way she'll continue to feel guilty about what happened, and therefore she'd never consider leaving." Blake declared.

"But... how should I apologize?" Weiss fretted, a worried side she had never displayed before. "If I say it to her directly... what if I mess up and only make things worse? What if she doesn't want to hear me out? She probably doesn't even want to look at me..."

Blake had to stop for a second to appreciate how genuinely concerned Weiss was about all of this, obviously taking her advice to heart. But she did not want the heiress to get so depressed that she could not even bring herself to apologize.

Deciding she had taken the charade far enough, Blake focused on the real goal, which was to reunite the two girls peacefully, and perhaps even bring them a bit closer together in the process.

"If you can't say it to her directly, then why not write a letter?" Blake suggested.

"A letter?"

"Exactly. If you write down everything you want to say to her, she'll understand. But you've got to think carefully about what you want to write." She cautioned.

Weiss finally sat back, her eyes sparking with clarity as she realized what she needed to do. "I've... I've got to go." She murmured, getting up from her seat.

"What?" Blake had not expected that response. "But class hasn't even started yet. You've never missed class before."

"Some things are more important." Weiss declared. She gathered her books in her arms before gliding into the aisle, disappearing out the door within seconds.

Blake stared after her, utterly flabbergasted.

As she had said, the heiress had never once missed a class; she had never even been a second late before. For Weiss to tear out of the lecture hall without even informing the professor or asking someone else to take notes for her was almost a disturbing behavior coming from the heiress.

As Blake wallowed in her amazement, she noticed Yang in front of her, hysterically pounding her fist against the table as she stifled laughter.

"Oh my _god_, Blake!" She cackled as she turned back to face her partner. "You are so _evil_! You even got her flustered enough to ditch class! The princess skipping class to write an apology letter to a partner who believes she has nothing to apologize for? That's insane!"

"Quiet, before Ruby hears you." Blake warned.

"Oh, she's too bummed to eavesdrop." Yang waved her sister off as a lost cause. "But seriously, good job. Couldn't have done better myself." She gave her partner a thumbs up and a wide grin. "I can't wait to see how it all turns out."

"I feel the same way." Blake offered her own smile. "But class is about to start. I suppose I'll take down the notes for her." She decided. "I mean, since I told her such ridiculous lies, it's the least I can do."

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Ruby sat through nearly an hour's worth of lecture until she realized something was off.

The professor had asked at least ten questions to the class within that time, and not once had he called on Weiss. _Is she that mad? _Ruby was almost ripping her hair out. _Is she so mad she even refuses to participate during class? She's so mad she's jeopardizing her grades?! _

She sunk even deeper into her seat and groaned, drawing Yang's attention.

"Uhh, sis?" The blonde muttered as she leaned over. "You _do_ realize Weiss left a looong time ago, right?"

"What?!" Ruby sat up immediately and whipped around to find that her partner's seat was indeed vacant. "Why? Where did she go? Has she gone to ask Ozpin to quit the team?"

"Chill out. I'm sure it's nothing like that." Yet as she spoke, Yang decided to have a little fun as well, and so she added. "But then again, I'm not sure. Maybe you should try to go find her..." She said this with a doubtful tone, letting false concern leak into her voice.

"I'm... I'm going to go look for her." Standing quickly, Ruby dashed out of the room before anyone could even pause to call out to her. Unbeknownst to her, Yang held out her fist to Blake who lightly knocked her knuckles against it.

The professor gave Yang a curious glance. "Miss Long, what in the world is amiss with your team this morning?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing's wrong, sir." She grinned. "Nothing at all."

Meanwhile, Ruby raced through the now-empty hallways, keeping her eyes open for any flash of white along the way as she headed back to her team's room.

When at last she arrived, she was about to knock and call out to the heiress, but was stopped when she heard several sounds from within.

"No!" Weiss growled, her tone clearly displaying her anger. Ruby shrunk back, assuming the negative feelings were directed at her.

But then she heard the sounds of paper being torn from a notebook, followed by the unmistakable ruffling of parchment being shredded. A new page was flipped open, and silence ensued for a few minutes until Ruby could make out the sounds of pen on paper, the small scraping noises indicating that Weiss was writing again.

Ruby quietly sat down outside the door and leaned back against it, trying to figure out what her partner was doing. She kept hearing the sounds of frustration: paper being violently ripped, a chair being roughly pushed back from the table, distressed footsteps of one who was pacing. All of these were constantly accompanied by Weiss's subdued voice, and although Ruby could not always make out her words, she could tell Weiss was still very upset.

The team leader listened to the same sounds for nearly an hour, the process repeating itself without pause as Weiss would write, rip, tear, hiss, and pace.

Ruby was miserable as she contemplated exactly what Weiss could be writing. _It must be something really, really important if she's skipping class to write this. She's never missed class even when she was sick, let alone skipped when she was healthy! Is she writing back home asking to picked up and taken away? Or is it a letter of resignation from the team? _With every passing second, the circumstances only worsened in Ruby's mind.

But as she tried to drown out the possibilities, she heard a sigh from within the room. It was a somewhat satisfied sound that indicated Weiss had finally written the letter she was most content with.

Ruby stood immediately, dug out her key and pushed through the door within a matter of seconds.

"Weiss!" She cried.

The heiress, who had just allowed a faint smile to cross her lips, jumped out of her chair, her heart leaping into her throat as her leader barged in suddenly.

"R-Ruby!" She gasped, clutching the paper to her chest. A plethora of emotions flashed through her eyes in seconds as she tried to conjure up the courage to say the words aloud. "Ruby I'm-"

But it was all too sudden. Weiss had not prepared herself for a verbal apology. She had already written everything down, and she feared that if she spoke it, her voice would end up catching or she would mess something up majorly.

She closed her eyes as she turned her face away from her leader who had come to her side. _Is this even a good enough apology?_ Weiss began to doubt what she had written. _This'll never make it up to her. _Enraged with herself, she crumpled the letter she was holding and threw it into the trash bin with force.

She then turned on her heel toward the door, unable to look Ruby in the eye as she hurried off.

"Weiss, wait! What were you going to say?" Ruby shouted after her. "Are you leaving? Weiss please don't leave!"

But the heiress had already disappeared.

"Weiss..." Ruby fell to her knees helplessly, unable to move. _This is it..._ She thought as hot tears welled up in her eyes. _I've finally done it. I've chased away my one and only partner. Some leader I am! I might as well go to Professor Ozpin and ask to quit too..._

Ruby hung her head, holding back as many of the tears as she could manage. She wiped her sleeve over her face as she sniffled, and only then did the shredded paper catch her eye.

In her anger to discard the final letter, Weiss had tossed it into the trash with such force that the bin had toppled over, revealing dozens of shredded sheets of all sizes.

Ruby blinked incredulously when she comprehended some of the words written on those scraps: _"I was wrong"_, _"I'm sorry"_, _"I didn't mean to"_, _"Forgive me"_, and most recognizably of all was the name of the person they had been addressed to: _"Ruby"_.

Shaking her head slightly in confusion, Ruby reached out to sift through the scraps, finding that just about every one contained similar content but was arranged in different syntax, as though Weiss had been experimenting with how she wanted to portray her intended message. She could tell that some of the words had been written shakily with a trembling hand, and some words had been smudged with a drop of water...

Ruby was silent as she continued to glance at the scraps Weiss had torn from her very own notebook that was supposed to be specifically for taking down lecture notes.

At last, she came across the only sheet that had not been shredded, the last one Weiss had held before crumpling it and tossing it away. Ruby carefully unraveled the twisted corners until the entire page had been flattened out. Before her, in the elegant calligraphy only an heiress could possibly possess, was the following:

_Dear, Ruby. _

_I am truly and deeply sorry for my distasteful display of character this morning. I let my emotions get the better of me and ended up taking it all out on you, and for that, among many other things, I apologize. _

_Please know I meant not a single word I said. The things I shouted came merely from my mouth, but not a single one could ever hope to reside within my heart. _

_I understand if you are upset, as I clearly overreacted and let myself get carried away in the heat of the moment, which was most unbecoming of me. If you truly wish it, I would have no qualms about quitting the team. My poor attitude must surely hold you back from achieving your true potential, and I do not think I could continue my time here at Beacon knowing you harbored only disdain for me. _

_However, if that is what you come to decide, please let me say that you have been the best leader any person could ever have asked for, and although I have acted multiple times as a partner unworthy of such a great leader, I still want you to know how honestly regretful I am for my actions; Ruby, I'm really, really sorry._

_ If you can ever find it within yourself to forgive me for all the horrible things I have ever said and done to you, perhaps you can rest easy in knowing you have made me less wretched of a person._

_ Sincerely, the person who should have been your best teammate, Weiss._

Ruby sat in stunned silence as she read over the letter again and again. She felt her chest tighten up and loosen several times as a smile found its way to her lips. She understood everything now, all of the misinterpretations and how she had misread the situation entirely.

But she tensed up when she realized Weiss still did not realize what had happened; as far as the heiress knew, Ruby was still 'angry' at her.

Keeping the letter between her fingers, Ruby stood and headed for the door, prepared to chase after Weiss wherever she had gone. _I'll run all the way back to the Schnee Dust company if I have to!_

However, Weiss had not run off through the halls as Ruby had assumed.

Too ashamed to even bring herself to move her feet very far, Weiss had slumped down outside in the hallway, fiddling with the pen she had carried out in her haste to leave the room.

Ruby blinked in surprise when she found her partner with her knees pulled to her chest and her face buried within her arms. She halted herself from the mad dash she had been prepared to take, and instead walked slowly over to the heiress. When she heard Ruby approaching, Weiss instantly lifted her head, looking terrified.

"Ruby!" She gasped again. "R-Ruby... I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry!" She bowed her head as she continued to speak passionately. "I didn't mean anything I said! You're a great leader and you shouldn't be giving up your position because of me! I'm not angry at you; I'm angry at myself! I was just taking things out on you! I didn't-!"

"Weiss!" Ruby said softly as she knelt down and placed a hand on her partner's shoulder. Weiss had been struggling through her words so much, her eyes brimming with self-loathing that it would have been cruel to let her continue. "Weiss, calm down. It's okay..."

"It's not okay!" Weiss snapped. "I said horrible things to you this morning! I always do! I wouldn't be offended if you asked me to leave-"

"No one's asking you to leave the team!" Ruby cut her off. Placing her hands on Weiss's back now, she leaned forward slightly to pull her into a hug. Weiss tried to shy away, obviously believing she was unworthy of being forgiven, but Ruby only pulled her in tighter. "I'm not going to resign as leader." She murmured. "Where did you even hear something like that?"

"...Blake said you might get that upset... because of what I said this morning."

"Well, she's mistaken." Ruby declared. "I'm not going to quit being team leader... unless you're leaving to go back home..."

"W...What?" Weiss lifted her head as Ruby gently let her go. "Where did you hear that? I won't go back home... unless you quit being team leader."

"Well, Yang was saying-" Ruby stopped herself as the realization hit her.

"Oh..." Weiss's character change from worrisome, insecure partner back to condescending, deadly heiress was almost uncanny.

"Ohhh..." Ruby parroted her.

Their eyes locked for a minute, and it was then they both finally understood everything about the situation at hand.

"I..." Weiss growled in shaking voice, not unlike the ground before an volcanic eruption. "I am going... to smack those two _so hard_..."

"N-Now, now!" Ruby interjected. Although she was quite unhappy about the fact that their other two teammates had created such a distressing scenario for Weiss and herself, she knew it was only because they wanted them to make up. "Still, they didn't have to go _that_ far..." She ended up muttering in agreement.

"I... I can't believe this..." Now that she knew the truth and that Ruby never intended to resign as team leader, Weiss was mortified; she had demonstrated such deplorable behavior in front of her team, and then shown her most vulnerable and pathetic state to Ruby just now.

Weiss's cheeks were hot with embarrassment as she inhaled deeply, trying to calm her breath.

"Well," Ruby said meaningfully as she attempted to sooth her partner's ruffled fur. "At least everything's been sorted out." She sighed. "B-But just to be sure, you're... you're not leaving, right?" She checked.

"Of course not!" Weiss huffed. She then lowered her voice uncertainly as she asked, "And... you're not quitting, right?"

"Of course not!" Ruby dove forward and embraced Weiss in another hug. The heiress flicked her gaze around quickly to make sure there was no one else present before she tentatively returned the contact.

Ruby channeled her elated feelings into the embrace, and she could tell Weiss's heartfelt emotions were in it as well.

A moment later, they pulled away, an unspoken agreement between them to never speak to anyone about what had just transpired between them.

"Now then," Weiss growled as she got to her feet. "I'm going to go give those two a piece of my-" She abruptly stopped speaking as she saw the piece of paper at Ruby's feet, her voice rising up into a short shriek as she swooped down to grab it.

"Uh... wait, W-Weiss-"

"Did you read it?!" The heiress cried.

"Wh-What-"

"_Did. You. Read. It._" Weiss shouted again as she took a step away from Ruby, crushing the letter to her chest.

"I-I did, but-"

"...Y...You..." Weiss's face went pale as her jaw went slack. But within seconds her cheeks were flushed red as she screamed again.

Grabbing the paper in a devastating grip, Weiss slammed it against the wall with her right hand. With her left, she used the pen she had rushed out of the room with earlier to scribble something across the page before dropping the utensil, crushing it with her heel, and shoving the letter back into Ruby's hands before she tore off in a rush.

"W-Weiss?!" Ruby called after her partner, knowing it must have been the most flustered she had ever seen her. However, she was very relieved the heiress had not shredded that letter as well, as Ruby planned to keep it folded within the confines of her diary.

Curious, Ruby flipped over her partner's letter as she located what Weiss had just written on the back: **D O R K**

Ruby chuckled briefly before laughing out loud and giving chase.

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**A/N: Ugh, I miss the series. This hiatus is killing me already, but I hope my stories can help you through. Next week is Bumblebee! **

**Please review!**


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